


The Mind Killer

by BubuBORG



Series: Team Medi: Fight the Future [3]
Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Discovery, TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Gen, Star Trek: Discovery Compliant, Star Trek: Discovery Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:53:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27094597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BubuBORG/pseuds/BubuBORG
Summary: The Dwarves, Mani and Dani, take Orfeus and Anborn to the Durin Throneworld for the young heir of Gondor to begin his errantries.  But something is foul in the Throne Room.  And the kingdom is filled with fear.
Series: Team Medi: Fight the Future [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1528982
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	The Mind Killer

**Author's Note:**

> This story (and series) takes place in the same timeline of the current season of Star Trek Discovery (Season 3) you'll be spoiled for events referenced in S3E1 "That Hope Is You, Pt 1"

The Throneworld was traditionally difficult to navigate to. 

Even for a couple of Dwarves that had been there and back and throughout the entire Triangle.The legends about the Khazad say that the Seven Families had ways of moving their throne worlds throughout the galaxy, never to be in the same asteroid fields twice, always looking for new quarry, new gems to mine.Or perhaps they borrowed technology from the legendary Alteans, hiding their worlds from any prying sensors.

Or maybe millennia of living under mountains, not wanting to be disturbed as they perfected their crafts and underwent their works, made them experts at being inconspicuous.

At any rate, the _Aegis Upon Time_ made its way through the slipstream cautiously, as to…

Not startle the Throneworld?

“So what you’re saying,” Anborn Telcontar said to his Khazad hosts, Dani and Mani, “Is that you have to tiptoe up to the Throneworld to properly be addressed?”

“There are security protocols in place,” Dani explained.“Threat assessment always targets any ships that directly confronts the Throneworld.Only those who know how to correctly plot a course are left alone.”

“It’s a secret handshake,” Orfeus remarked.He ambled over to the helm, where Mani was inputting a very specific navigation course.

“Essentially,” Mani agreed.“One that we don’t share with very many outsiders.”

“Lucky us,” Orfeus said, and took a bite out of a fruit from the Dwarves’ food stores.

“Lucky you,” Mani drawled. 

“So, why?” Anborn asked.

“Why what?” Dani replied, not looking up from his console.His hand hovered above the board, causing it to glow a light red as he maneuvered deftly through minor asteroids with no markings, not indications that it was the right way to go.

“Why this…great effort to keep visitors away?” Anborn pressed.He tried to find some sign that they were getting closer, but could not.All the gray planetoid bodies before him looked the same.

Dani blinked once, twice, and turned to face the young man.“You mean you don’t _know_?”

“I mean, your people have always been secretive, even when you lived on Arda,” Anborn noted with a shrug.“But you’ve been out here for centuries.No visitors, no outsiders, and you told me that if this goes wrong, you could be exiled.What’s the reason?”

“Since you invoked our ancestors on your homeworld, I’ll ask you a question,” Dani replied.“What was it that we sought in those mines so deep under Erebor, under Moria, under the Iron Hills of old?”

“They say it was the toughest alloys,” Anborn replied.“Duranium, tritanium, rodinium.They even say you found latinum down there.”

“The elves called it _mithril_ ,” Mani interjected.But you are right.The skin of starships, used as plate and mail for the Men of Westernesse, your ancestors.But we delved deep.Too deep.And hubris took its toll.”

“So what’s out here that you keep so private?” Anborn asked.

“Kid, you know a whole lot about your planet, but your ignorance is showing about galactic affairs,” Orfeus sighed.“Dilithium.They scour their asteroids for the last remaining dilithium in the galaxy.Didn’t you ever get taught about The Burn?”

“Yeah but…” Anborn struggled to articulate.“We don’t have a problem with that at home.“We’ve developed recrystallizers that can keep the remaining crystals on our ships viable for millennia, if…”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ve heard the old company line,” Dani grumbled.“Your planet holds a monopoly on that technology in the Triangle, and that’s all well and good.But out here?” He gestured out of the screen in front of them.“It’s catch as catch can.”

Anborn, chastised, retreated a step from them, and quietly muttered, “Guess I have a lot more to learn.”

Orfeus placed a solid hand on Anborn’s back, and reassured him.“Well, isn’t that what you’re out here for?” he said. “Errantries aren’t just about doing things, I don’t think.You want to learn how things really are, so you can take it all back with you whenever you decide to go back and get crowned King of Gondor.”

Mani rolled his eyes and shook his head as he continued to navigate. 

Dani’s chin raised up an he took a hand and gestured toward the screen.“There.”

It was an especially large asteroid body, measuring just under 500 kilometers in diameter.Anborn assumed that originally it was spherical in shape, but what the Khazad had done to it….was breathtaking.

Carved into the surface of the Throneworld was the visage of three distinct figures.The central figure was dressed in ornate and angular finery, his beard long and his eyes depicted with a keenness. 

The two attendant figures were dressed more simply; while their heads were unadorned, their hair and beards were decorated with beads and braids.

And upon their chests, a simple delta shield badge. 

Anborn strained to look.“Are those…?”

Mani nodded.“Aye.The first people from Arda to embrace the Federation-that-was, to join their Starfleet, were our own.”

“Huh.” Anborn said, looking at the gigantic statues.“I mean, how many of _my_ ancestors were Starfleet officers?”

Orfeus and the dwarves looked over at him.“Is that a rhetorical question?” Dani asked.

Anborn looked unsure.“Yes....Probably.”

Orfeus sighed.“They didn’t teach you that?”

“I mean, it’s a thousand years of history that, frankly, kind of ran together.I was fourteen, it was... _boring_.”

“You’re gonna be _king_!” Orfeus exclaimed, exasperated.This kid was getting more and more flaky all the time!“These are things that kings are supposed to know about their own family!”

Anborn’s face scrunched up.“And how would you know _that_?” He shot back.

“Because I’m a _diablador_ from a Cainian House!” Orfeus replied. “It’s nothing like King of Gondor, but It’s the head family of the Clan House, and you’re expected to know things about the history of your family, and who you’re related to, and which Houses you’re friendly with and which ones you...pretend to be,” he finished, trailing off.

Dani interrupted their exchange.“We’ve got the green light,” he told them.

Mani turned to Orfeus.“You’re a diablador?” He asked.“We toured with you across half the quadrant and you never told us!”

Orfeus scoffed.“Yeah, ‘cause...who cares!I mean, I can trace my lineage across four different planets, and one of them happens to be from a Clan House.I haven’t lived on Cain since I was 10, and...”

“And you didn’t want anyone to treat you differently,” Anborn suggested, then brightened.“Hey, maybe this is something we can do together!Do Cainian nobles have a tradition of errantries as well?”

Orfeus swung a dismissive wave at the young man.“That’s...never interested me.Otherwise I would have joined my sister Urey at the monastery back home.I prefer to play.”

“We’re clear to dock,” Mani told them.“Luckily they recognize the ship.”

Orfeus’ eyebrows raised.“Really?How’s that?”

Dani chuckled.“Like you two are the only ones trying to keep a secret.”

The Aegis was docked in the reserved section of the docks.When the four of them disembarked, they were met with ten Khazad in official uniforms, helms heavy, Axes shining, if only for ceremonial purposes. 

At Mani and Dani’s feet, they bowed low.“At your service, Princes,” the dwarf at the front said, reverentially. 

Anborn mouthed, “Princes?” At Orfeus, who turned and shrugged back.

“And who are your guests?” The head honor guard asked, regarding Orfeus and Anborn, still looking slightly confused.

“This is Anborn Telcontar...of the line of Isildur,” Mani told them, gesturing to Anborn. “He has come on his errantries as heir to the Throne of Gondor.”

“After all these centuries,” the guard breathed.She turned to the guard next to her, “Tell the Throne Room.Prepare it for a visitor.Take all the precautions.”She then turned to the Orfeus.“And the Cainian?”

“He is Diablador of a Clan House of Cain,” Dani spoke up.“He has accompanied Prince Anborn.”

“Of course...” the guard said.“If I may inquire, Diablador, what is the name of your house?”

“Well,” Orfeus said, scratching the back of his head, “The Houses are pretty much all intermarried at this point, but for the sake of simplicity, it’s K’gar.”

Mani and Dani turned back to him.“You didn’t say _that_!” “Mani accused.

The guard frowned at this, then turned back to them.“Are there any other passengers?”

The four frowned.“No,” Dani replied. 

“It’s just with these...No matter.Welcome to the New Erebor Throneworld.Our utmost hospitality is yours.We will see to your comfort while you are here.”And with that, the guard turned ranks, leading all but one guard back out of the docks.One sole Khazad dwarf remained with them. 

“I am Duli,” the guard introduced himself. “I’ll take you to the Princes’ suites.There is guest space for both of you. 

As Duli led the four of them through marble floors and high ceilings of hallways.Orfeus looked down at the brothers.“So,” he remarked.“You two are from the Line of Durin.”

“From the direct line of the throne,” Anborn added.“Why are you wandering the galaxy?You have a home.This home that I haven’t seen anything like since I’ve left my home!” He exclaimed gesturing at the columns they passed by.

Duli was circumspect as he glanced briefly behind him.Mani and Dani said nothing. 

They continued to their suite. 

“Why does the Throne room need to be ‘prepared’ for us?” Anborn asked.“And ‘precautions’, what does that even mean?”

“Hey,” Orfeus said, gently poking the young man.“This isn’t an interrogation.And they are your peers, _your highness_ , so show them their due.”

Anborn looked up at Orfeus’ disapproving glare and back to the dwarves.“Sorry.”

Dani barely gave Anborn a glance and continued walking forward behind their escort. 

They finally got to the suite, and opened the doors for them.Anborn glanced around, and was impressed by the opulence that was given the wayward princes.Everything was ornate and decorated.Flowers he did not recognize were placed in hexagonal-shaped vases, placed on a dining table set for four.A bathroom area looked to have a tub with clawed legs, and ample room besides. 

It was space meant for royalty.

Duli took his leave, leaving the four alone.Orfeus made sure the door was closed and circled back around to Dani and Mani, folding his arms.

“Well?” he asked.“What was all that about, then?Or do you know?”

Mani sighed.“It’s gotten even worse since we left,” he said to Dani, who put his hands to his shaved, tattooed head. 

“Damn you, kid, for bringing us back here,” he cursed at Anborn.“You have know idea what we’ve returned to.”

“What’s going on?” Orfeus pressed.“You didn’t want to bring us here, but here we are.”

“We didn’t want to return, but he’s the freaking King of Gondor, Orfeus!” Mani exclaimed.“And we thought…maybe, he could help the King.”

“Don’t they that you have the hands of a Healer?” Dani said to Anborn.

“Is the King sick?” Anborn asked.

Mani scoffed.“Worse.” He turned and looked at Orfeus and Anborn, his palms outward. 

“The King of the Line of Durin is _haunted_.”


End file.
